Since living in Europe I have had a few opportunities to explore some places in short breaks. Budapest was the first place that my husband and I went to. At the time neither of us had been to Hungary.
Some of my recommendations that spring to mind are:
Use the Hop On, Hop Off bus.
Tickets are valid for 48 hours. The company that we used had two different bus routes (we used one on each of the two days) plus tickets for a river cruise as well.
In my mind this is a great way to get a good feel for the city before exploring independently.
Try a ‘hot’ Kurtőskalács.
We tried this Hungarian pastry twice, and the second time it was freshly prepared and still hot and really good.
Take in Budapest via bicycle.
For a completely different perspective hire a bike for half a day or a day. We started off on the Pest side and then headed over the Liberty bridge to the Buda side and rode all the way down the edge of the Danube river looking back to the Pest side.
Have a decadent cake and coffee in a coffee house.
After burning off calories riding around the city, put them all back on by going to a coffee house and having a piece of cake with a coffee for good measure.
Try the local wine and pálinka.
These beverages accompanied a rather special meal that my husband and I indulged in!
Go to one of the bath houses.
It was a tough decision on which bath house to pick but we did eventually make a decision and I’m very glad we made the effort to go. Not only did we test out most of the indoor pools, we even ventured outside as well. It was a slightly strange sensation to make a dash to the pool in the cold as we travelled in November and then get into really hot water (at least in one of the pools, that recommended you stay there for only 20 minutes).
There were some things that we could have done but didn’t manage to do, so it gives us an excuse to go back one day.
Have you been to Budapest? If so, what would you recommend doing?